Watch: LSU Football Tight End Arik Gilbert Back in the Lab Training in Georgia
The state of Georgia is starting to reopen its doors and part of the reopening process includes gyms. That's good news for a number of athletes who are chomping at the bit to get back in weight rooms and return to some semblance of a normal training regimen.
On Wednesday, LSU freshman tight end Arik Gilbert was seen at Terrence Edwards' Wide Receiver Academy, putting in some much needed work. For Gilbert, this has been a long time coming as it was announced by coach Ed Orgeron right before the spring that he would miss all of spring practice recovering from shoulder surgery.
"Arik is one of the best tight ends to come out in the country the past 10 to 15 years,” Orgeron said. “He can also play X and Z, but he is not going to be going through spring ball because of an operation on his shoulder.”
Even with no pads on, it's good to see Gilbert running around as it appears that shoulder injury is well on its way to recovery.
When players are allowed back on campus, Gilbert will return to Baton Rouge with eyes following him everywhere on the football field. He comes in as one of the most hyped players in the country, ranked by 247Sports a few months back as the best tight end prospect ever.
Furthermore, how LSU plans to use Gilbert is truly fascinating. While Orgeron certainly envisions lining Gilbert up at tight end, he recently said in an interview on "Off the Bench" that the team wants to use him in a “Calvin Johnson like” role.
"I'm considering Arik Gilbert as a wide receiver," Orgeron said. "I can't wait for him to come back. Obviously we can use him at tight end but we can split him out at "X" and we can get some mismatches with this kid, especially in the redzone. He's going to be a nice target there for Myles Brennan."
Johnson saw some of his most productive seasons as a receiver under offensive coordinator and now LSU passing game coordinator Scott Linehan.
“We can use some of the same plays with Arik that Scott ran with Megatron, I'm not saying he's going to be Megatron but he's a good player,” Orgeron said.
Louisiana is currently under a stay-at-home order through May 15 and the SEC has banned all on campus activities through May 31. It's possible those dates could be extended but Orgeron is hopeful that his players will be able to return in June.
"I feel confident that we're going to play," head coach Ed Orgeron told "Off the Bench" in an interview. "I feel confident that at some point or another, we're going to start. Hopefully we can get our guys back maybe in June, maybe in July, hopefully that's going to happen. We've just got to follow the governor's orders. "
Editor's Note: Thanks to Brooks Austin of Dawgs Daily for getting this video content
